Wednesday, June 23, 2010

McKinsey & Company reports that US multinationals, which represent less than 1 percent of all US companies, contribute disproportionately to the US economy’s growth and health.

In 2007, US multinationals accounted for 23 percent of US private-sector GDP (or value added). Since 1990, however, they have been responsible for 31 percent of the growth in real GDP and 41 percent of gains in US labor productivity. Their outsized contributions to productivity growth matter greatly because productivity increases have delivered nearly three-quarters of US real GDP growth since 2000, with the rest coming from employment gains—the reverse of the situation 30 years ago. Compared with other US companies, US multinationals are twice as concentrated in globally competitive sectors. Since many corporations confront similar pressures and choices, US multinationals may provide insights into how other companies—and the economy as a whole—can respond to increasingly intense global competition.